Diversity Rules Magazine

Tony Guadagnino is a marke ng consul- tant. Located in New Jersey, his clients are based across the country, focusing on social media to build their presence on the internet. He studied crea ve wri ng in college and is cur- rently working his first novel on the subject of bullying. He lives with his partner Mark. In my last ar cle, I spoke about Billy Bean, former baseball player who was the second baseball athlete to come out. But who was the first? The first was a man who, unlike Billy Bean, came out DURING his tenure in baseball. (Billy Bean came out 4 years a er he re red.) His name is Glenn Lawrence Burke. Glenn was born in 1952, in Oakland California. Throughout school, he was a natural athlete and excelled not only in baseball, but also in basketball during his high school years. He received a North- ern California MVP award, and was named Northern California's High School Basketball Player of the Year in 1970. But his passion was baseball, and that is the sport he entered. While playing the sport in the minor league, Glenn was scouted by the Los Angeles Dodgers to the major leagues in 1976. He played with them for three sea- sons before being traded off to the Oakland Athle cs in 1978, and playing with them for one season. But a knee injury forced him out of baseball altogether at the age of 27. During his me in the game, Glenn made no secret about his sexuality to his teammates. While he de- scribed the situa on "difficult," he never made it a secret to peers of his sexual orienta on. All of his team members knew he was gay, but none of them cared. However, managers of the team, worried about the s gma sm of homosexuality in the 1970s, tried to disguise the fact that a team member was gay. The General Manager, Al Campanis, offered to pay for a lavish wedding and honeymoon if Glenn agreed to marry; he refused, allegedly responding to him by asking "to a woman?" The fic ous wedding never happened. Famed Dodgers' manager Tommy Lasorda was equally angered that Glenn became friends with Tommy's gay son (Tommy Lasorda Jr). (Footnote: Tommy Lasorda Jr died from AIDS compli- ca ons in 1991, but his father refuses to accept the fact. Instead, he tells and believes his son died from cancer.) In 1978, Glenn was traded off to the the Oakland Athle cs. While the official announcement was "needing a more experienced player," the trade was unpopular with the Dodgers players. His teammates were losing a valuable player. Glenn received much harsher prejudice with his new teammates during his two years with them. Bil- ly Mar n, the A's manager), would refer to him as "faggot" in the clubhouse, and teammates avoided showering with him. He spent more me si ng on the bench than on the field. When he injured his knee, the A's released him from his contract before the season ended. It wasn't un l 1982, in an ar cle in Inside Sports magazine, where his homosexuality was made public knowledge. A er re ring from baseball, Glen competed and won medals in the 100 and 200 meter sprints in the first Gay Games in 1982 and competed in the 1986 Gay Games in basketball, then spent years in the SFGSL (San Francisco Gay So ball League), playing third base for the Bombers. While he remained ac ve in amateur compe ons, Burke turned to drugs when his career ended. An cocaine addic on cleaned out his bank account and physical build. Then, in 1987, his leg and foot were crushed when he was hit by a car in San Francisco. Af- ter the accident, his life spiraled into a real decline. Burke - Con't on page 21 20| Diversity Rules Magazine |June 2020 Empowering Inspiration Glenn Lawrence Burke By Tony Guadagnino

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